Page 23 of Queenpin
Chapter 10
Lucian
“Here’s everyone’s cut this week,” I address my crew of eleven men.
They stare at the stack of hundreds in front of them. Each of them got ten thousand and up for doing the work.
“This week is going to be tougher than the last. There’s something brewing with the 3-1-3 is stacked up with product this week. We need our strongest runners on the field,” I look at Raul who’s shaking his head. “What?” I demand without any nicety.
He groans. “Where did you get the extra product?” He pointedly asks.
My eyes zero in on his face. He always gets cocky when I’m about to take on someone new. Raul can never just let us go and leave me alone. The fucking man has to get his hands into shit he doesn’t need to.
I know what I need to do.
“What makes you think you have the right to ask me questions?”
He stands up out of his chair in the middle of my club. “I have the right to ask you questions whenever I want, Lucian. How did you get the extra blow?”
My other crew watches with amusement at us. I’m glad I’m fucking funny to them. “Because this is my sector. You knew this was my sector and you keep interfering. What are you trying to prove? That you have a dick and I don’t?” I blurt.
Raul’s working me on every nerve and I’m bridging the gaps between everything that’s happening and him.
“I don’t know if you have a dick or not because you won’t let anyone touch you.”
Without thinking, I pull out my gun and aim it at Raul. “You’re going to bring up private conversations? I’ve never bashed you, fucker. You want to let everyone know how you fell in love with me?”
“Hey!” Someone shouts from the door. “There’s a time and a place for this. I want my money,” Ralf says with a vengeance.
My back tightens as I hear the voice of the shot caller for every sector of the 3-1-3. I knew it was only a matter of time before he came looking for me to give him the rest of the money I owe.
“Ralf! Hi, what brings you here?” I ask stupidly. I know exactly what he’s doing here.
“Lucian, we discussed this the last fucking time I was here. You either pay up or I take flesh. Pick which one you want.”
I know what flesh means. Flesh means someone’s going to die or be jumped and I can’t have that coming back on me.
“I know, I know.”
He growls at me, walking through the room with his eyes focused on me. “You will do what you’re told, or I will own that pussy more than what I already do!”
My body tingles from the latent fear of knowing what he’s capable of. The night I was jumped-in, was also the night I almost needed stitches from Ralf. The man is ruthless when he’s taking what he wants and who he wants, however he wants.
That was also the last time I was touched by anyone.
Being jumped-in either means I take the beating, or I take the gang. I couldn’t take the beating at only a hundred pounds and fresh off the street. I took the gang instead. It went on for hours and hours. Finally, Ralf ended it with himself taking me- hard, ruthless and with no mercy for a sixteen-year-old girl who had been living on the streets.
I got lucky that night with Katie, a friend to me now, knowing what was about to happen and she tried to rescue me. She made it her mission to try and take the place of the women about to be jumped-in. I thought taking the gang was the worst thing in the world. Nothing compared to knowing your friend was willing to take your place.
“You owe me money, Lucian. You owe me twenty-five K today. I want my money right now!” He growls at me.
“I’ll get it for you!” I yell back.
Having a screaming match in front of my gang is not something I fucking want to do. These assholes need to respect me and know that I’m queen of this sector. I run the shit on the street. Being scolded by Ralf, only proves I’m just a bitch in high heels.
“Give me a minute,” I call back to him.
“I’m coming with you!” He snarls.
